She likes potatoes - I hadn't thought of them as being iron-rich. Also, are peas okay in terms of choking hazards for a 9 month old? Should I smush them?

I think we definitely have to up the protein rich stuff like beans and tofu. Chickpea sticks are a good idea. We have fed her a little hummus, but it is just such a crazy mess and she freaking hates being spoon-fed, so it's hard to work up the energy to do it frequently. Maybe chickpea sticks dipped in hummus? That could be tasty.

Chickpea sticks dipped in hummus sound sooo good! Since Gpiglet is only 6 months old we're not on peas yet. Her first experiment with food was pureed peas. Thankfully she still lets us spoon feed her so I might puree some again one day until she's ready to pick them up and eat them herself. I think the choking thing really depends on the child. I've seen 10 month olds handle small things like wells steamed peas with no problem and others not so much.

I have color themed weeks around the house to keep things fun this week is purple week so she has purple cauliflower, purple sweet potato, and purple carrots. I have some multigrain enriched cereal that I'm going to mix into the mashed sweet potato.

In addition to dusting fruit, I know someone who rolled balls of avocado in quinoa for her daughter.Ada is a big fan of hummus and bean dips on toast. I've done white bean/spinach/rosemary, black bean/avocado, broccoli hummus, curried butternut squash hummus, etc. As Tofulish said, lentil dishes are also really good for iron.

Purple week is a fun idea! You must have much more energy/creativity than I do.

I assure you I'm a mess! :) I just let the grocery store be my guide I wanted roasted cauliflower this week and when I got to the store they had purple cauliflower and from there I went wild buying everything purple in the store. Last week was green week simply because of the massive amount of zucchini in the garden.

Can I express my joy for a second? Today I felt like we really got in a groove with BLW. We had breakfast this morning I had yogurt, berries and granola and gpiglet had yogurt and steamed, halved blueberries. At school they're having jungle wee so she had her first fruits (mango and kiwi slices), for dinner she had roasted purple cauliflower and dessert we shared a homemade popsicle made of papaya, mango and coconut milk (no sugar added). It felt like the most effortless day of feedin and yet she ate (or rather tasted) so much.

So how long before they are taking actual bites and eating stuff you offer? Babynut is six months old and we are starting to offer her foods, but she just plays. A couple times tonight she made really funny faces, making me think she did get a taste here and there.

Leela has been eating for a month now and its a lot of play and not so much eating (she usually wants a nursing session after her meal). I've read and heard that they start really eating at about 10 months, so it sounds like BBnut is doing fine!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Same here. Yogurt is gpiglets favorite thing in the world (besides breastmilk) so that and the fruit pop she had yesterday are probably the only 2 things she really really eats completely. She'll literally down 2 ounces of yogurt if you let her. As far as everything else goes it's usually a few bites, probably no more than 1-2 teaspoons but she does taste everything which I think is important. Ditto to the 10 months

New question: what foods are you avoiding, until when, and why? I read different opinions on soy, seeds/nuts, and gluten especially. We don't have any allergies in the family and I personally eat a ton of all of that.

we have no allergies in the family except for shellfish (irrelivent) and whole apples. I am waiting for apples but have tried applesauce snd he was fine. We avoid too much soy because he gets gas with it. We also haven't tried peanuts but that's more because peanut butter seems like it would be hard for him to eat although I am pretty sure he has had cashews in my cooking.

We're not avoiding anything. Overwhelmingly studies have shown that early introduction of "allergic" foods greatly reduces the risk of allergies and the guidelines have changed to reflect this. Additionally, brestfeeding significantly reduces the risk of food allergies and postponing the introduction of solids until 6 months significantly reduces the risk. Naturaly I won't be feeding her any nuts and seeds anytime soon but I do make sure I'm eating nuts, seeds, soy and gluten so she can be exposed to those proteins through the milk. We've already imtroduced her to soy and a little bit of gluten. I just made some bread last night and I might toast some up his morning and let her try it for breakfast

++We are avoiding refined sugars, fried foods, nuts (choking hazard until they are about 3), chocolate and limiting nooch (supposedly its so fortified with B vitamins that you could OD your baby on it). I am allergic to apples and stone fruit, but she is fine with it.

-+My friend who is an RD said that she doesn't think anything needs to be off limits now.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Almond butter in oatmeal sounds so good! What a creative way to work it in. Now I kinda want that for breakfast.

Avoiding fried foods and added sugars has been one of those things that has also made my diet better. When we were flying home last week I bought some fries between lay overs and as guineapiglet started to reach for them I realized I have to give it a rest on the fried foods myself since her assumption is that if I'm eating it, she can eat it. On the added sugar side I do sneak in a couple cupcakes now and then when she's not looking.

I was eating French fries a couple weeks ago and grey kept trying to get them, he finally managed to snag one and he poked it with his finger and then smooshed it. Hey, if that is how he is going to eat fries, have at it! I agree though, I am really trying to watch when I eat to model good behavior. If all he sees me eat are cookies he is going to wonder why he can't have cookies.

We put off most allergens until after his first birthday, but then he wasn't very interested in eating until 10 months so that wasn't hard. Now he eats pretty much everything I eat. His father and I don't have any food allergies, so I just introduced each new one with caution. poopiebaby loves almond butter in oatmeal!

And I don't see how a sesame seed could be a choking hazard - you're looking for things that are the size of her windpipe which is the size of a pea. That said apparently sesame seeds can get lodged in the airways and cause infections: http://www.babycenter.com/0_foods-that- ... by_9195.bc